November 15, 2017

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Drill down on your dream job with Google’s updated search widget

by John_A

Google streamlined job searches earlier this year with a feature that pulled data from popular online job boards and laid them out in a widget for easy viewing.

Accessible via its Search page, you can begin your job hunt with a term like “jobs near me.” After that, it’s a simple case of tapping your way through the widget’s custom filters to find jobs of interest. Options include job category, title, date posted, and type (e.g., full- or part-time). For some positions it will even show you the approximate commute time.

Based on feedback from some of the “tens of millions” of job seekers that Google says have so far used the service, the web giant said on Wednesday it’s introducing some new features to make finding your next job even easier.

Notably, it will now show estimated salary information for the posts you’re interested in. This kind of important data can often be absent from job listings, but algorithms will now build pay estimates based on the specific job title, location, and employer using data from sources such as Glassdoor, PayScale, and LinkedIn.

“For those jobs that do have a salary listed, we’ll show a comparison to the estimated range for that job, if available,” Google promised.

Google’s updated job widget will also include a location filter allowing you to select a workplace up to 200 miles away. While you certainly wouldn’t want to commute that far, you may be willing to make a move if a particular job strikes your fancy. There’ll also be an “anywhere” filter so you can peruse postings across the country.

Google also wants to smooth out the application process. It notes that sometimes the same job is posted by multiple job listing sites, and many job hunters are signed up to a few — but by no means all — of these sites. So now a job listing will show you which sites you can find it at so you can choose which one to apply through.

Finally, the widget now lets you save listings of interest in case you don’t have time to knock out an application there and then, or just so you can do some more research later. “With a bookmark button alongside each posting, saving is as simple as a single tap. Then that job will appear in your ‘Saved jobs’ tabs on Google, which is accessible across any of your devices,” the company said.

According to Google, 60 percent of employers in the U.S. now show their jobs via its widget, and it’s making continued efforts to assist more listing sites and company employers to bring even more into the fold.

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